As Grain Once Scattered

Welcome to “As Grain Once Scattered.” You’ll find here my reflections on everything from the Sunday Lectionary texts to worship and our shared life together in the Body of Christ. May these reflections invite you deeper into your own discipleship practices and invite new ones.

— Assistant Rector the Rev. Adam Pierce

A Faith that Invites Others

by Office | February 15, 2021 | As Grain Once Scattered, Clergy Corner | 0 Comments

Perhaps some of you have seen it in my office; I have a prayer rug on my floor. To most I guess it looks like an area rug that is too small for the space it currently occupies (my wife, Laurie thinks so anyway). It is a reminder for me to pray providing a regular...

Waiting is Living

by Office | December 2, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered, Clergy Corner | 0 Comments

I grew up hunting in Pennsylvania with my uncles and my grandfather. We hunted for deer and turkey which is another way of saying we hunted most of the year. The picture is of the deer stand that my brother and I would use on those cold mornings on the land my...

Entrusted with the Gospel

by Office | October 26, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

Proper 25 Year A Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18 Psalm 1 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46 I love this line from Paul today: “but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak not to please mortals, but to please God...

What is The Right Answer?

by Office | July 14, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

“How is John Caputo using Martin Heidegger’s hermeneutical ‘as’ to compare Paul’s understanding of grace in Romans with Jacques’ Derrida’s use of ‘chance’ in order to interpret Augustine’s ‘Confessions’?” Or some such question would be asked in my Religion courses in...

Come, Holy Spirit

by Adam Pierce | May 30, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

From the killing of Ahmaud Arbery to the release of the video of his killing, to the ramble in Central Park, to the death of George Floyd on the streets of Minneapolis it has been a painful and tragic period in our life as a nation; all of this with the backdrop of...

The Wilderness is Calling

by Office | May 12, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

When I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania we would take a road trip most summers to visit family in Michigan. We always looked forward to these trips. Summer in Michigan is incredible. We loved spending time in Traverse City, swimming in the lakes and rivers, and...

Part 3: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 – Local Episcopal Churches respond

by Office | April 30, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

St. Paul’s “Little Brick Church” (1914-1939), 16th and Market streets, Wilmington, N.C. Enforced closures, open doors, and divine service The St. Paul’s Vestry records, dated October 1918, didn’t mention the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918. It seemed to be just...

Part 2: Episcopal Church – Some National Responses to the Influenza Pandemic of 1918

by Office | April 30, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

According to pandemic medical history review articles, among the things we know today about the Spanish Influenza pandemic is that there were clearly challenges. In 1918, recognition of the spread of the disease was not consistently understood by the public or...

Part I: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 – Wilmington Episcopal Women’s Response

by Office | April 28, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

Bassinet image: The Wilmington Morning Star, January 10, 1918 “Will you help?” A picture showing tender nursery items was printed in a Wilmington paper in January, 1918, enticing moms to select the best for their babies. Only months later, in early October, The...

The Black Death

by Office | April 22, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

The world has seen pandemics and health crises before and each time the Church has been impacted. No surprise really as the Church has maintained a role in people's lives throughout the centuries. What follows below is a piece written by Cleve Callison concerning the...

We’ve Been Here Before

by Office | April 15, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

Does it ever feel like we’ve been here before? Probably anyone reading this (Hi Mom!) would immediately say, “No.” This time we’re living in is strange, full of uncertainty and even fear. But this time is not without precedent. I’m sure you’ve read by now or heard...

Play and Holy Week

by Adam Pierce | April 6, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

My daughters have been playing a lot of dress up lately. I’m not sure where or how we came to possess so many costumes and dresses but I have been thankful for them during this pandemic. It has brought joy to watch them play and pretend, creating new worlds and...

The Living Word

by Adam Pierce | April 1, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

“He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it;...

The Sacred Spaces Project

by Adam Pierce | March 28, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered, Sacred Spaces | 0 Comments

One of the ways in which rituals do their work (convey meaning, provide comfort) is through their consistency. We do the same thing in our ritual practice over and over again and our rituals shape us through that consistency. As we think about going through Holy Week...

Lament, Loss, and Longing

by Adam Pierce | March 27, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

Scripture has much to show us about the presence of God in the midst of our loss. As we received the announcement this week from our bishop, The Rt. Rev. Robert Skirving, that public worship would be suspended through April it hit me that we are not going to be...

Worship under Quarantine

by Adam Pierce | March 27, 2020 | As Grain Once Scattered | 0 Comments

For those that have found their way to this page: Welcome! One thing that I have found deeply meaningful during this time has been writing. I’ve always enjoyed writing but somehow it ceased to be a part of my spiritual discipline, can I blame my 3 children? One great...

About the Title

The title of this blog comes from an ancient Eucharistic prayer found in the Didache, an ancient manuscript offering instruction to the Early Church.

The prayer reads: “Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom.”